Distance Does Not Matter: The Role of Physical Robot Presence in Social HRI with Older Adults

Distance Does Not Matter: The Role of Physical Robot Presence in Social HRI with Older Adults | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Distance Does Not Matter: The Role of Physical Robot Presence in Social HRI with Older Adults Nan Liang, Yizhu Li, Goldie Nejat This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As the global older population increases, more older adults need assistance in their daily lives. There is an increasing interest in using social robots to assist with everyday activities to promote overall wellbeing and health. However, whether and how social robot physical presence can influence human-robot interactions (HRI) with older adults has not yet been explored. In this paper, we present the first long-term HRI study conducted in a long-term care home that investigates the interaction behaviors of older adults during dance sessions facilitated by physically present and remotely present social human-like robots. Our results show that the older adults had similarly high levels of engagement and enjoyment during the interactions regardless of if the social robot was physically or remotely present. Although higher participation rates were observed in the in-person HRI, participation rates in the remote HRI were consistent to those in other non-robot facilitated physical activity interventions for older adults. Overall, this paper explores the role of robot presence and its impact on HRI, while providing insight into the potential use of remote HRI for providing social assistance to older adults. Robotics Social robots Robot presence Remote human-robot-interaction In-person human-robot interaction Older adults Robot dance therapy. Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7774914","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":524370817,"identity":"dfa62f65-bd9d-4ac6-b9b2-8d40d11ccf63","order_by":0,"name":"Nan Liang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABA0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBwZAgr2BgSGhgFgtCSAtPAcgDB6IECEtIEICRBKjxZz97AGge+zy5CNfJ34AujBxP3vvw8eFP2wY+NsPYNVi2ZOXAHRPcrHh7dzNEkCHJfbwHDc2npGQxiBxBrtVBgdyDIBamBM3zs7dANEikcYmzZNwGOhIHFrOvwFpqU/cOPPs5h+oWvgfYNdyA2zL4cT5Erzb0GyRwGHLjTcGBxIMjidu4MndZpFgIGHcc+YYszFPWhqPxA0ctpzPMXzw4U914vz2s5tv/qiwkW1vb2N8zGNjI8ffj90WEDgACQcwWwIuyoNTPQzINxBUMgpGwSgYBSMVAACljllkePfXuwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Toronto","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nan","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""},{"id":524370818,"identity":"9886ef24-d5a4-470c-95e9-44b907f881d3","order_by":1,"name":"Yizhu Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Toronto","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yizhu","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":524370819,"identity":"fbb17acd-4e3f-42cc-9f35-0b98c8d84831","order_by":2,"name":"Goldie Nejat","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Toronto","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Goldie","middleName":"","lastName":"Nejat","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-03 16:07:46","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":92975416,"identity":"6866b875-27af-464b-87fe-8bed7e22237c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-07 18:01:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":861258,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Socialrobotics2025Final.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7774914/v1_covered_b76c6bd5-9823-4074-a50b-63f4fa5eef66.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDistance Does Not Matter: The Role of Physical Robot Presence in Social HRI with Older Adults\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Toronto","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Social robots, Robot presence, Remote human-robot-interaction, In-person human-robot interaction, Older adults, Robot dance therapy.","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAs the global older population increases, more older adults need assistance in their daily lives. There is an\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eincreasing interest in using social robots to assist with everyday activities to promote overall wellbeing and health.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, whether and how social robot physical presence can influence human-robot interactions (HRI) with\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eolder adults has not yet been explored. In this paper, we present the first long-term HRI study conducted in a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003elong-term care home that investigates the interaction behaviors of older adults during dance sessions facilitated\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eby physically present and remotely present social human-like robots. Our results show that the older adults had\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esimilarly high levels of engagement and enjoyment during the interactions regardless of if the social robot was\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ephysically or remotely present. Although higher participation rates were observed in the in-person HRI,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eparticipation rates in the remote HRI were consistent to those in other non-robot facilitated physical activity\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003einterventions for older adults. Overall, this paper explores the role of robot presence and its impact on HRI, while\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eproviding insight into the potential use of remote HRI for providing social assistance to older adults.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Distance Does Not Matter: The Role of Physical Robot Presence in Social HRI with Older Adults","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-07 17:53:39","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7774914/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b0de0070-58b1-4bee-b741-ccf418386e98","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 7th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":55736000,"name":"Robotics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-07T17:53:39+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-07 17:53:39","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7774914","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7774914","identity":"rs-7774914","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}